In November 1968, George Harrison stopped by during a taping of the CBS-TV program 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy
Hour,' for an impromptu cameo appearance. In this brief chat which would air on November 17th, George joked with Tommy and Dick about the on-going network censorship of their show.

In previous weeks, the Smothers Brothers had exclusive Amercian-TV rights for airing the promotional films for 'Hey Jude' and 'Revolution,' the Beatles latest no. 1 single.

Tommy Smothers would later remember: "Beatle George Harrison was on this show.
He makes a surprise appearance and surprised everybody." Dick Smothers added: "Back
then in that year, The Beatles were the biggest thing in the entire universe. And
to have George Harrison just stop on by to wish us luck and say 'Go on, keep
doing it,' it was a real coup."

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was a cutting edge program featuring top-name musical guests and
politcal satire. The program was often censored for politcal reasons which baffled Tom Smothers, who
contractually had creative
control over the scripts. The show would be cancelled in 1969 because of tensions with the network -
tensions stemming from the fact that the show's political views did not agree
with those of the CBS network president at the time. The Smothers Brothers would sue CBS
on the grounds that the network
did not have proper grounds to terminate their mutual contract. In the end, the Smothers Brothers did
prevail in that court case.

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ran from February 1967 until it was cancelled in April 1969. Staff writers
on the show included Rob Reiner and a young up-and-coming Steve Martin.

- Jay Spangler, www.beatlesinterviews.org

DICK SMOTHERS: "Tommy has a special guest and he'd like to introduce him right now."

TOMMY SMOTHERS: "That's right. I have a Beatle!"

(sudden surprised screams from the girls in the audience)

DICK: "Yea, but it's not the kind of 'beetle' you would expect it to be."

(audience moans with disappointment)

TOMMY: "It's the kind of Beatle that I think you hoped it would be! Ladies and gentlemen, Mister
George Harrison!"